Therapist's Blog

For much of my life I have thoroughly enjoyed the work of David Suzuki which included learning from his shows and simply listening to him explain stuff. The guy is a Canadian icon and is certainly knowledgeable about the stuff that he talks about.

Which makes him the perfect patsy for the Ontario Liberals and their commercialization of world ending by climate change.

I am not sure if you have seen the commercial yet but he basically is at a podium in front of some dozens of youth telling them at the world is coming to an end, that it is their parents' fault, and that if things don't change we are screwed followed by saying that it will be up to them to solve the problem. Follow-up to this commercial has kids doodling things that, in their minds, will solve the problem.

Since the commercial has aired I have had a sudden influx in the number of kids coming to my office with their parents with anxiety about the climate which is not an easy conversation.

My problem is not with the climate change theory and the associated factoids. I am perfectly aware that there are shifts happening worldwide that do not fit with climate models that have been developed over the better part of the last century. Statistically there are anomalies popping up everywhere. The blame is being put on human behaviour which I imagine is an unreasonably large portion of the issue but there is nothing that is specifically determined to be causal except the atmospheric retention of heat via greenhouse gas emissions and even that is heavily debated.

My problem is both political and psychological. Suzuki is making these commercials in support of the Ontario Liberal government's environmental programs which have, in the last 10+ years, have successfully managed to keep away any kind of new technology from being marketable to the common consumer while at the same time making it even harder for the common consumer to so much as live in their own home by continuing to allow current power companies to hike prices without notice or justification. Leaving aside the run-on sentence, Suzuki is implicitly supporting a government which will not provide research grants or subsidies for the things that will help us reduce our damage to the planet.

On the psychological side of things these kids in the audience and watching the show are at an age where everything is internalized with little ability to filter by self-discretion. Essentially these youth are going to end up requiring additional assessment and psychological services because they internalized shame - the feeling of guilt for something they didn't do wrong and have no personal control over. It is certainly plausible that some kids will actually take quite well to the challenge and, along with their parents and caregivers, will be able to bypass the doom and gloom and keep their creative minds at work however what I am already starting to see in my office and through other practitioners are children coming into the office more afraid of storms than ever.

I would chock it up to stormy weather in the area but we have had the weakest storm season in 8 years.

For parents: If your child wants to take up Suzuki's challenge and be the difference then by all means let them but do not focus on climate change. Instead teach them about weather, climate, and technology... let them geek out... and see what they come up with. The freer they are to explore the more likely they are to withstand the anxiety and shame that comes with doomsday environmentalism.